Heel attaching apparatus



April 29, 1958 J. w. ASHLEY ETAL 2,832,095

HEEL ATTCHING APPARATUS original Filed oct. 26, 1951 4 sneetssheet 1 Invenzioni John. W/shley.

4 April 29 1958 J. w. ASHLEY E-r AL 2,832,095

HEEL ATTACI-IING APPARATUS fameFZ-Jeahy .56' 76 By 76g/ April 29, 1958 J; w. ASHLEY ET AL. 2,832,095

HEEL ATTACHI'NG APPARATUS Original Filed Oct. 26, 1951 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Inl/enfans' .omW/shley JamesFLeahy April 29, 1958 J. w. ASHLEY ETAL HEEL ATTACHING APPARATUS original Filed oci. 2s. 1951 4 Smets-Sheet 4 www, 1whm. nASMuw e. WWA hm Ifofa w ma 9M 6 4 e P6 87 7 A. ,t i A o g aV. 4 8

United States Patent O HEEL ATTACHING APPARATUS John W. Ashley and .lames F. Leahy, Beverly, Mass.,

assignors to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Boston, Mass., a corporation of New Jersey Original application October 26, 1951, Serial No. 253,308,

now Patent No. 2,764,768, dated October 2, 1956. Divided and this application December 23, 1955, Serial No. 555,121

4 Claims. (cl. 1st- 30) This invention relates to apparatus for use in the attachment of heels to shoes. As explained in United States Letters Patent No. 2,600,507, granted June 17, 1952 on an application tiled in our names, it has been proposed to attach a heel to a shoe by the use of thermoplastic resin which in its viscous form is injected into and lls undercut or anchoring cavities formed in the heel seat of the shoe and the attaching face of the heel as well as all voids existing between said attaching face and heel seat, said resin after it has set serving as a rivet for permanently securing the heel to the shoe.

Resin may be introduced into the anchoring cavities in the attaching face of the heel and in the heel seat of the shoe through a passage extending heightwise through the heel, as disclosed in Patent No. 2,600,507 or through a passage terminating in the breast of the heel, as dis closed in United States Letters Patent No. 2,641,852, granted on June 16, 1953 in the names of James F. Leahy and George F. C. Burke. It has also been proposed permanently to attach heels to shoes by injecting the thermoplastic resin into the above-mentioned cavities and voids through the heel seat of the shoe and it is an object of the present invention to provide an inexpensive effective apparatus for this purpose.

The present invention consists in the novel features hereinafter described, reference being had to the accompanying drawings illustrating one embodiment of the invention selected for purposes of illustration, the invention being fully disclosed in the following description and claims. t

In the accompanying drawings,

Fig. 1 is a side elevation, partly broken away and partly in section, of the illustrative apparatus in a rest position ready to be used in the attachment of a heel to a shoe;

Fig. 2 is a view similar to the upper part of Fig. l but on a larger scale showing a valve head of resin-injecting mechanism of the apparatus depressed to a cocked position in which resin under pressure is admitted to undercut cavities formed in the heel seat of the shoe and in the attaching face of a heel to be attached to the shoe;

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal central section through the heel seat of a last and a shoe to which a heel has been attached and which is mounted on the last and is considerably larger than the shoe illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2;

Fig. 4 `is a section on line IV-IV of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a section on line V-V of Fig. 2 after the valve head has been raised from its cocked position shown in Fig. 2 to insure that resin injected into the work shall be flush with the insole of the shoe;

Fig. 5a is an enlarged View on line V a of Fig. 5;

Fig. 6 is a wiring diagram of the apparatus;

Fig. 7 is an exploded view showing in perspective the heel end of the shoe and the heel which is to be attached to the shoe;

Fig. 8 is an exploded view showing in perspective the heel ends of parts forming a composite insole of the shoe; and

Fpice Fig. 9 is a perspective view, partly broken away, of the rear end of the shoe, the heel of which has been attached by the use of the illustrative apparatus.

The illustrative apparatus is described with reference to attaching heels 20 to shoes 22 by the use of thermoplastic resin 24 in accordance with the method disclosed in said Patent No. 2,600,507. Instead, however, of injecting viscous resin through a passage extending heightwise through the heel as disclosed in said application, the resin in injected through the heel seat portion of the shoe, a special form, support or last 26, which is hereinafter described and constitutes part of said apparatus, being provided for this purpose. The apparatus comprises the last 26 upon which the shoe 22 to which the heel `20 to be attached is clamped, a resin receiving spindle-nozzle 28 upon which the last is mounted and to which the last is coupled, and an extruder 30 (Figs. 1 and 2) in which the resin is plasticized and which forces the resin into and through the spindle-nozzle. The heel 20 has formed in its attaching face 32 (Fig. 7) a pair of cross slots 34 which are inclined to the plane of the rim 36 of the attaching Aface of the heel and may be collectively referred to as an undercut or anchoring cavity.

The shoe 22 comprises an insole 38 in the heel seat portion of which is formed a relatively large undulatory or crenate opening 40, a libre tuck 42 which is cemented or otherwise secured to the lower face of the heel seat portion of the insole and has formed in it a relatively small opening 44, an upper 46, a counter portion. 46A of which consists of an outer layer of leather 48, a fiber counter 50 and a lining 52 all suitably sewed or otherwise secured together, heel seat lasted and secured to the heel seat portion of the insole and its tuck by tacks 54, a metal stifener 56 which is secured at its forward end to the insole by staples (not shown), and an outsole 58 which is adhesively secured to a roughened ove'rlasted margin 60 (Fig. 7) of the shoe upper and has its heel seat reduced or fitted to provide a heel seat tab 62 and heel breast receiving shoulders 64.

The insole 38 and the tuck 42 may be referred to as a composite insole which provides the heel seat of `the shoe with a cavity 43, said cavity being described as undercut by reason of the fact that the opening 44 in the tuck is considerably smaller than the opening 40 in the insole 38 so that marginal lobes-66 of the opening underlie the tuck as viewed in Fig. 7. The rear end of the shank stifrener 56 extends into a void or space formed between the undercut cavities 34, 43 formed respectively inthe attaching face 32 of the heel 20 and the heel seat of the shoe and viscous resin injected into the cavity 43, by the use of apparatus hereinafter described, lls said cavities and voids and has secured in it the rear end of the shank stitener, thus providing a shoe having a rigid heel seat portion to which the heel is effectively secured permanently by a resin rivet 69.

The heel 20 may be held in the proper position upon the fitted heel seat of the shoe by a clamp 70 (Fig. 2)` comprising a C-shaped bracket 72 carrying a universally tiltable ledge 74 which engages the upper surface 76 ofv a back cone 78 of the last upon which the shoe is mounted and a presser foot 80 which is universally connected to a screw S2 threaded into said bracket and is forced, upon rotation of the screw, against the tread end of the heel 20 to be attached to the shoe. The clamps 70 are commonly referred to as C-clamps. By the use of the clamps 70 heels are temporarily secured in their proper positions upon the fitted heel seats of the shoes preparatory to being permanently attached to the shoes.

The last 26 `is provided with a highly polished heel plate 84 and has passing through its back cone 78 a bushing or sleeve 86 (Figs. 1, 2, 3, 5 and 5") having a cylindrical spindle-nozzle receiving bore or passage 88.' The bushing 86 has a heel seat face 90 which is flush with an adjacent portion of the outer or heel seat face 92 of the last plate 84 and has a cylindrical port, passage or bore 94 which extends from said heel seat face into the bore 88, a frusto conical sealing or spindle-nozzle engaglng shoulder 96 extending lfrom the wall of the cylindrical port 94 to the wall of said bore 88. The heel seat face 92 of the last plate may be referred to as a shoe sustaining face or the heel seat of the last.

The bushing 86 has formed integral with it a flange 98 which overlies a wood portion of the back cone 78 of the last 26 and forms the upper surface of the back cone, a well portion 100 of the bushing 86 having an internal thread 102, the distance between said thread and the shoulder 96 being constant irrespective of the height of the last. Accordingly, it will be noted that the depths of the well portions 100 of the bushings 86 of the lasts will vary, the well portions of the bushings of low lasts being shallow as .shown in Fig. 2, and the well portions of high lasts being relatively deep as shown in Fig. 3.

The spindle-nozzle 28 is generally cylindrical and is vertically disposed, the bushing 86 fitting sldingly down over the spindle-nozzle until the shoulder 96 of the bushing'engages a complemental frusto-conical face 104 of the spindle-nozzle 28 which has a cylindrical passage or port 106 which when the shoe is positioned on the spindlenozzle registers and is substantially continuous with the port 94 of the bushing 86 and has communicating with it a cylindrical resin receiving bore or passage 107. The spindle-nozzle 28 has a thread 108 which meshes or interlocks with the thread 102 of the spindle-nozzle, the pitch of the threads being vsuch that when the last has been turned approximately 90 from an initial rest position in which the thread 102 rests upon the thread 108, the frusto-conical shoulder 96 of the bushing 86 of the last 26 will be forced sealingly against the frusto-conical face 104 of the spindle-nozzle. The threads 102, 108 of the bushing 86 and the spindle-nozzle, respectively, may ber described as coupling, interlocking or threaded parts.

The extruder 30 is of the general type disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 2,589,323, granted March 18, 1952, on an application in our names and comprises a plasticizing chamber 110 (Figs. 1 and 2) into which powdered resin is fed, and a screw conveyor 112 Ifor feeding the resin into the chamber and through an exit passage 114 of the extruder. Secured to the extruder 30 by screws 116 is an extruder head 118 having an L-shaped passage 120 which registers with and may be considered part of the passage 114 of the extruder and secured by screws 122 to the extruder head 118 is the spindle-nozzle 28 the bore 107 of which registers with the passage 120. The extruder 30 together with the spindle-nozzle 28 serves as an injector' for the resin and collectively with said spindle-nozzle may be referred to as an injector 124.

Slidingly mounted in the bore 107 of the spindlenozzle 28 is a slide or plunger 126 having a valve or valve head 128 (Figs. 3 and 5) which is complemental in cross section to the port 94 and which has an upper end or face 130 which when said head is in a closed or rest position in the port is flush or in alincment with the heel seat face 90 olf the bushing 86. The slide 126 is constantly urged upward to its closed position by a heavy spring 132 (Figs. 1, 2 and 4) opposed ends of which are attached to a hook 134 carried by the extruder head 30 and a screw 136 in a collar 138 secured to the slide. Secured by a screw 140 to the slide 126 is a collar 142 which limits upward movement of the slide and accordingly establishes the upper or closed position of the valve head 128, the arrangement, as above explained, being such that the upper end 130 of the valve head is tlush with the heel seat face 90 of the bushing 86 which in turn is llush with the face 92 of the heel plate 84 of the last 26 when the collar 142 is in engagement with a stop face 144 of the extruder head 118.

It will be understood that the resin in the extruder head 118 and the spindle-nozzle 28 shall be brought up to the proper temperature before operating the apparatus and that such temperature shall bc maintained during the operation of said apparatus. Accordingly the extruder head 118 has housed in it electrical heaters (not shown) similar to the electrical heaters 145 of the extruder 30. Moreover, when there is no work in the apparatus the spindlenozzle 28, which may be vdescribed as a spindle having at an end portion thereof a nozzle, may be heated by a suitable shroud (not shown).

The lower portion of the slide 126 lits loosely in a bore 146 (Fig. 1) formed in a treadle 148 (Figs. 1 and 6) the rear end of which is fulcrurned upon a pin 150 secured to a main frame 152 upon the upper end of which the extruder is mounted. The treadle 148 is constantly urged clockwise as viewed in Fig. 1 about the pin 150 by a spring 154, upward movement of the treadle being limited by the engagement of the treadle with the main frame and downward movement of the treadle being limited by the engagement of a screw 15'6, which is adjustably carried by the treadle, with the main frame. The treadle 148 also has adjustably mounted on it a screw 158 which, as will be hereinafter explained, operates a cross bar (Fig. 6) of a self-closing switch 162 in a circuit 164. Formed integral with the treadle 148 is an upstanding bracket upon which is pivotally mounted a fulcrum pin 172 secured to a latch 174 which is constantly urged clockwise as viewed in Fig. 1 by a spring 176 and has its lower end operatively connected to a slidable core 178 of a latch controlling solenoid 168 which comprises a coil 166.

When the treadle 148 is in its raised position the cross bar 160 of the switch 162 has been moved by the screw 158 out of contact with terminals 180 of the switch 162 and the coil 166 0f the solenoid 168 is deenergized, the spring 176 holding an abutment face 182 of the latch in a position adjacent to the slide 126 and over a collar 184 secured to the slide.

In the attachment of heels 20 to shoes 22 by the use of the above apparatus the operator places the shoe mounted on the last 26 upon the spindle-nozzle 28 with the thread 102 of the bushing 86 of the last resting on the thread 108 of the spindle-nozzle and then rotates the shoe approximately 90 upon the spindle-nozzle, forcing the frusto conical surface 96 of the bushing against the frusto conical surface 104 of the spindle-nozzle 28 and locking the last against heightwise displacement upon the spindle-nozzle.

The treadle 148 is then depressed permitting the cross bar 160 of the self-closing switch 162 to bridge the terminals 180 of the switch and causing, through the latch 174, the plunger 126 to be depressed from its raised or closed position, in which it closes the passages 94, 106 of the last bushing 86 and the spindle-nozzle 28 respectively, to its lowered or open position thereby releasing any pressure remaining in the resin in the passage 120 at the end portion of the preceding operation.

Power for operating a motor 186, to which the screw conveyor 112 is operatively connected, is supplied by a 3-phase circuit 188 to two wires of which is also connected the primary coil of a transformer 192 the secondary coil 193 of which supplies current for a relay 200.

When the apparatus is at rest and the treadle 148 has been depressed to open the passages 94, 106 as above stated, bars 204, 206 of a slide 208 which forms part of the relay 200 and is constantly urged to the left, as viewed in Fig. 6, by a spring 210, are in their open positions spaced from their associate-d terminals 194, 198 and a bar 212 of the slide vbridges the terminals 196 one of which is in a line 214, a coil 216 of a solenoid218 of said relay 200 at this time being deenergized.

asaaoos in order to start thc motor 186 the operator presses a bar 220 of a switch 222 across terminals 224 of a line 226 thereby energizing the coil 21.6 of the solenoid 213 and accordingly moving the bars 2M, 2%, of the slide 2% across the terminals 19d, 193 respectively and the bar 212 of the slide, away from the terminals 1%. When this occurs a coil 228 of a relay 2341 becomes energized causing bars 232, 23d of a slide 236 of the relay to bridge terminals 238, 2411i, respectively, and a holding circuit 241 to be established. During this time the coil 15o of the solenoid 1615 remains deenergized since thc terminals 1% are not bridged by the bar 212 and accordingly the latch 174 continues to bear against the collar 14% of the plunger 126 to hold said plunger depressed. As soon yas the bar 2211 of the normally open s 22? has been moved to its bridging position across thc tei'- minals 22d a line 242 becomes a holding line for main-A taining the coil 21e of the solenoid 21h energized and the motor in operation and the bar 221) may be released.

When resin in the passage 1211 of the spindle-nozzle 23 has i'illed` the undercut cavities 3d, i3 in the heel 2i? and the heel seat of the shoe 22 as well as any voids existing between the heel and said heel seat, resin pressure in the passage 121i increases to a point at which it del'lccts outwardly a diaphragm 24rd thus forcing a slidel 2do to the left as viewed in Fig. 4 against the action of a spring 248 and accordingly moving a bar 251@ (Fig. 6) of a normally closed switch 252 away from terminals 2521 in the holding line 2412. When the holding line 24E-2 is opened upon opening the normally closed switch 252 the coil 21o of the solenoid 21S becomes deenergized and the slide 29S moves under the action of the spring 211B to its position shown in Fig, 6, the bars 2M, 2% being moved away from their associated terminals 19d, 19t; and the bar 212 again being moved across the terminals When the bar 212 bridges the terminals 1%, the coil 1.66 of the solenoid 16S becomes energized causing the latch 174 to be withdrawn from engagement with the collar 184 of the plunger 126 thereby permitting said plunger acted on by the spring 132 to be moved to its raised position.

The operator thereafter releases the treadle 14th there by breaking the holding line 241 and deenergizing the coil 221 of the relay 23d thus permitting bars 232, 23a o? L the slide 236 to be moved away from their associated terminals 233, 24h and accordingly deenergizing the coil 16o of the solenoid As the treadle is raised the latch 174 is retracted against the action of the spring 176 as it engages the collar 184 of the then raised plunger 126 and thereafter' swings back to its starting position shown in Fig. 6 over the collar 134. After a short dwell the shoe 22 and the last 26 upon which the shoe is mounted are then rotated upon and raised with relation to the spindle-nozzle 23 to` remove the shoe 22 to which the heel 20 has been attached from the machine,

At any time during the operation of the machine the operator may stop the motor 186 and accordingly the screw conveyor 112 and simultaneously therewith cause the plunger 126 to be moved to its raised position by actuating a normally closed switch 256 causing a bar i thereof to be moved away from terminals 261i in a line 261. After stopping the machine as above described it is necessary again to close the normally open switch 22@ before the motor 156 can again be started.

The last disclosed herein is claimed in U. S. Letters Patent No, 2,764,768, granted October 2, 1956, on an application tiled in our names.

Having thus described our inventori, what we claim as el new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. An apparatus for attaching a heel by the use of plastic resin to a shoe mounted on a support which has a heel seat portion and a bushing provided with a passage having one end opening into said heel seat portion and which has a coupling part and a shoulder extending partially across said passage and arranged adjacent to the heel seat portion, said apparatus comprising a spindlenozzle having a passage through which the resin is transmitted and a coupling part adapted to cooperate with the coupling part of the support to force the shoulder of the bushing of the last into sealing engagement with the spindie-nozzle and to lock the support against movement .i lengthwise of said spindle-nozzle.

2. An apparatus for attaching a heel to a shoe mountcd on a last having a back cone and a heel seat face and having a bushing which entends heightwise through said back cone and is formed with a port opening into said heel seat face and which has an interlocking part, said apparatus comprising a spindle having at an end portion 'thereof a nozzle and having a passage through which resin is transmitted to the nozzle, said spindle having an interlocking part which is adapted to interlock with the interlocking part of the bushing for securing the last to the spindle with the port of the bushing in sealing engagement with the spindle.

3. An apparatus for use in the attachment of a heel to a shoe mounted upon a last which has a back cone and a heel seat face and which has an interlocking part and a bushing extending heiglitwise through the back cone and provided with a passage terminating in a port opening into said heel seat face, said apparatus comprising a spindle having at an end portion thereof a nozzle and having a passage through which resin is transmitted t0 said nozzle and also having an interlocking part adapted to cooperate with the interlocking part of the last for securing said last to the spindle with the nozzle in sealing engagement with said port whereby to allow resin trransrnitted to the nozzle to be forced through the por-t and into anchoring cavities formed in the heel and the heel seat of the shoe, a plunger which is movable into `and out of said port and said nozzle and has a face, means for moving the plunger out of said port and said nozzle to render resin in said passage available for said nozzle and for said port as well as for the anchoring cavities, and means for moving the plunger to a rest position in the nozzle and the port with its face in alinernent with the heel seat face of the last to cut oil' the supply of resin available for said nozzle and said port from the passage of said spindle and to form on the lresin forced into the worl; a face which is approximately llush with the heel seat face ofthe last.

4. An apparatus in accordance with claim 3 comprising mechanism which is responsive to pressure of resin in the passage of the spindle and is adapted to render the second-named means active to move the plunger to its rest position.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITE@ STATES PATENTS 2,254,233 Meyer Sept. 2, 1941 2,519,255 Knowles Aug. 15, 1950 FGRElGN PATENTS 912,194 France Apr, 23, 1946 712,182 Germany Oct. 14, 1941 

